Ice Skating Christmas Eve

We had a great time ice skating on Christmas Eve. A new tradition perhaps? Photo cred to my dad and a special thank you to my mom for staying home with Freya.

Alice's Pool Party

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Thanksgiving 2016

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Grandpa Guy, Mimi and Greg and had a wonderful time. We explored Stapleton, Union Station, the 16th street mall, the aquarium and Georgetown.

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Alice's 5th Birthday

We celebrated Alice's birthday while Grandpa Guy and Mimi were in town. They gave her several nice presents but her favorite were the roller skates.

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The Georgetown Loop

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Georgetown to ride the train on the old mine loop. We had hot chocolate and cookies while we waited for our train. Once on the train we were treated to a visit from Santa Claus who gave each of the girls a silver bell and then we were served refreshments just like on the polar express.

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Halloween

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RMNP Fall 2016

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Courtney & Bryce's Wedding

Just a smattering of photos of the girls (and Guy!) from Aunt Courtney's wedding

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Freya's 2nd Birthday

Freya Lorraine and Grandma Lorraine had a joint birthday bash she was so eager to blow out her candles that they had to be lit again so we could sing to her

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Yellowstone: Grand Prismatic

The highlight of the day for me was seeing the Grand Prismatic. All of the following pictures are from the Grand Prismatic. All of Yellowstone has an other worldly feel to it but this spot was the most amazing to me. I would alternately feel rushes of cool air and hot steam. It was so steamy my hair was wet and there were places we couldn't see each other even just a few yards away. I could have spent hours looking at those boiling blue pools. Can you see Bryan in this steam?We should have ended the day on that note but we pushed our luck and took the girls to see the mud pots. We were caught in a torrential downpour on that walk and we were all soaked. Once in the car, the girls kept telling me to "not do that again" and Bryan kept trying to explain it wasn't my fault that it rained. Then they would say things like "Its ok Mama, we forgive you, just don't do it again." After that Bryan and I decided to stay in a hotel that night. We drove back to our campground, dressed the girls in dry clothes and kept them in the car with the heater on, packed up and left the park. Unfortunately we had to drive all the way to Victor to find a vacancy but we were warm and dry. Next time we are going to plan a year in advance and have reservations at the Old Faithful Inn!

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Yellowstone: Geyser Basins

It rained most of Saturday night and the temperature dropped down to the 30s so we were chilly. Norah went to bed in long johns underneath sweats and then slept completely under the quilts. I checked on her a few times in the night to make sure she could breath. Freya insisted on sleeping between Bryan and I and we were happy to have her as our own little heater. When the girls woke up in the morning we managed to fit all three of them with us on our queen size air mattress and snuggled together for warmth. We discovered that morning that Alice radiates heat like an electric blanket and we all took turns benefiting from her warmth. Spooning Norah on the other hand only sucked the heat away from you. It rained really hard all morning and unfortunately I didn't pack their rain jackets so we headed to the gift shop and bought the only rain gear option they had. The girls attracted a lot of attention in these matching jackets. These little girls walked so far. We walked around the loop of geysers near old faithful, then drove to the black sand basin to see sunset lake and the emerald pool. The map we were looking at made it look like it was equidistant to walk from there over to castle and grand geyser vs driving back to Old Faithful and walking to Grand. We were definitely mislead by that map and we think the girls walked three miles! By the time we realized how long of a walk it was going to be it was too late to turn back so we motivated Alice to keep walking by rewarding her with one gummy every time she reached a new geothermal feature. It was a beautiful trail though and we escaped the  crowds and saw some beautiful crystal blue pools and steaming geysers all by ourselves.